Saturday, October 10, 2009

A handful few, attack with hearts of lions...

Gunmen hold hostages in Pakistan army headquarters

By Associated Press Writer Asif Shahzad, Oct. 10, 2009

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan – Militants held several security officers hostage inside an intelligence wing of the army headquarters Saturday after they and others attacked the complex in an audacious assault on Pakistan's most powerful institution.

The attack, which left at least 10 people dead, was the third major militant strike in Pakistan in a week and came as the government was planning an imminent offensive against Islamist militants in their strongholds in the rugged mountains along the border with Afghanistan.

It showed that the militants retain the ability to strike at the very heart of Pakistan's security apparatus despite recent military operations against their forces and the killing of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack in August.

An army statement said more than two assailants were holding several officers hostage in the "security office building" inside the heavily fortified complex close to the capital. The army uses that term to refer to the headquarters of either the military intelligence or the country's premier spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence.

The whereabouts of military chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha were not known. Separate army statements said Kayani attended meetings at the headquarters and at the president's office in nearby Islamabad during the day.

The attack began shortly before noon when the gunmen, dressed in camouflage military uniforms and wielding assault rifles and grenades, drove in a white van up to the army compound and opened fire, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas and a witness said.

"There was fierce firing, and then there was a blast," said Khan Bahadur, a shuttle van driver who was standing outside the gate of the compound. "Soldiers were running here and there," he said. "The firing continued for about a half-hour. There was smoke everywhere. Then there was a break, and then firing again."

After a 45-minute gunfight, four of the attackers were killed, said Abbas, who told the private Geo news television channel the assault over and the situation "under full control."

But more than an hour later, gunshots rang out from the compound, and Abbas confirmed that gunmen had eluded security forces and slipped into the headquarters compound in Rawalpindi. The city is filled with security checkpoints and police roadblocks.

"We are trying to finish it (the siege) at the earliest, clear the area of terrorists and restore complete control," Abbas told Dunya TV.

Abbas said six troops were killed and five wounded, one critically. Those killed included a brigadier and a lieutenant colonel, according to a military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.